OIL SUBSIDY REMOVAL: Protesters shut down Lokoja bridge, Warri-P/Harcourt highway *Paralyse activities in Lagos, Kano, others *1 killed in Ilorin, sco

THE wave of countrywide protests against the removal of the fuel subsidy entered its second day on Tuesday, with protesters blocking

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the Niger Bridge, Lokoja, Kogi State, preventing vehicles from the southern part of the country from travelling northwards and also disallowing vehicular traffic from the North to the South.

The protesters, who were over 100, carried placards which bore inscriptions, such as "We need military intervention"; "Jonathan, you are not a good leader"; "Resign now"; "The nation is heading for anarchy."

One of the protesters in Ilorin the Kwara State capital was shot dead allegedly by the police at the Post-Office Junction.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, Dabo Ezekiel, who confirmed the death of one of the protesters, said the deceased did not die from police stray bullet as alleged.

The state government said it regretted the incident and ordered a full-scale investigation into the matter, adding that it would do everything under the constitution to protect the citizens and residents of the state.

Similarly, angry gun-wielding militants and protesters, numbering about 300, shut the ever-busy Warri-Port-Harcourt highway to traffic and engaged the operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in a gun battle that lasted more than an hour.

But the JTF, in a reaction, said there was no gun duel between them and the militants.

The mass action, which began a few minutes after 7.00 a.m., saw people running for dear life, while workers, traders, banks and commercial vehicle operators wound up operations, even as the mobile police deployed to quell the demonstration fired teargas to disperse the protesters.

It took the JTF some time to dislodge the protesting militants, who condemned the suddenness of the subsidy removal by President Goodluck Jonathan without consultations with relevant stakeholders and Nigerians.

JTF spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy Antigha, while confirming the incident, said the youth were not really protesting against removal of subsidy but were clamouring for their inclusion in the third phase of the amnesty programme.

Meanwhile, the protests in Ibadan, Oyo State, Lagos and Bauchi states were peaceful as more Nigerians decried the increase in the pump price of petrol due to the removed subsidy.

A youths coalition group which spearheaded the Ibadan protest gave President Jonathan a seven-day ultimatum, which began on Monday, to reverse the decision or the youth would take over his government and constitute their own National Assembly.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who commended the peaceful conduct of the protest in Ibadan, assured them that their grouse would be communicated to the president. He described the action as an exercise of the right of the citizens of the country in a democracy.

The Lagos protest was led by rights activist, Femi Falana and had members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), civil society groups, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and concerned Nigerians in attendance.

They marched from Yaba through major streets before terminating the demonstration at the Gani Fawehinmi Garden at Ojota.

More than 1,000 people in the Lagos protest march, sang, chanted and waved placards reading: "No to fuel price hikes" and "We demand living wages". A group of demonstrators set up a roadblock of burning tyres on a major Lagos highway. Police in riot gear kept watch, but the protest was largely peaceful.

"The prices of everything will increase, transport, housing, school fees, food, etc. The common man will not be able to survive. We will say no and oppose bad government policies. We will say no and oppose IMF [International Monetary Fund] policies," said Ganiat Fawehinmi, widow of the late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi.

There were barricades of bonfires on the roads, while commercial activities were brought to a halt.

Also, a group of Bauchi people, under the auspices of Bauchi Citizens Patriotic Front (BCPF), on Tuesday, protested against the removal in Bauchi.

The group, which protested on major roads in the capital city, took its protest to the palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleimam Adamu, to raise the objection to the subsidy removal, which its spokesmen said was "grossly ill-timed, deceptive and hypocritical."

Addressing journalists at the emir's palace, having waited without seeing him, the coordinator of the group, Usman Adamu and its secretary, Mr Said Jibrin Said, said that the removal at a time the standard of living of the average Nigerian was far below the minimum was ill-timed, adding that the decision was anti-people.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration of being liable for murder, following the death of one of the protesters against the hike in the price of petrol in Ilorin, Kwara State, who was shot dead by the police on Tuesday.

In a statement by its president, Abdulwaheed Omar, the NLC said it was Jonathan's "inhuman policy" that caused the death of the victim and called on the president to fish out the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

The statement stated that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) would today issue a directive on the date for coordinated general strike, mass rallies and street protest would commence and the modus operandi.

It denied ever sanctioning the removal of subsidy from petrol as claimed by the media aide to the president, Dr Reuben Abati.

The labour organisation expressed dismay that brute force could be deployed against peaceful protesters despite having warned the Federal Government not to suppress demonstrations by unarmed innocent Nigerians against unfriendly government policy with arms.

"It is with a heavy heart that the NLC announces the murder of an anti-fuel price hike protester, who was shot dead by the police today, Tuesday, January 3, 2012. The victim was shot dead around the Post Office area of Ilorin, Kwara State.

"The perpetrators of this crime were armed policemen from the Area A Division, close to UBA Ilorin and the state police command along Sulu Gambari Road, Ilorin. The NLC holds the Jonathan administration liable for this murder and advises it to fish out its agents who shot protesters in Ilorin and bring them to justice," the statement said.